


The Time Traveler's Wife

by teyla



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Character Study, General, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-07
Updated: 2009-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-02 18:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teyla/pseuds/teyla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An outside view on the early Doctor/Master relationship and the Doctor's early life on Gallifrey after leaving the Academy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time Traveler's Wife

**Author's Note:**

> **Beta**: Euclase

The first time she meets him, she doesn't notice him. It's at some kind of formal social event, and he's just another not-so-remarkable face half-hidden by a ceremonial cap.

The second time she meets him, she's in trouble, and the only attention she can pay him is to wonder how he can help her. It turns out he can; or at least, his friends can, those political activists considered radical by some and inspired by others.

She's grateful, and ultimately she ends up joining them. She works with them--and with him--closely, but it still takes her almost another decade to actually notice the person behind the political facade. The only word to describe him is "sweet," which kind of irks her a little because she's never been one to fall for sweet. That's what happens, though, she realizes soon enough; she's falling for him, and she's falling hard.

He's with Koschei--or the Master, which is what Koschei starts calling himself at some point--but it's an on-again, off-again thing. It's not that she would mind him having a second relationship--some Time Lords prefer exclusivity, but she's not one of them, having never had the patience to commit entirely to a single person. She's not a friend of the Master, though, and she can see that the Master is no good for him, even if he can't admit it. She's sure it'll be over completely at some point; she doesn't think he's _that_ blind.

It's one of the few miscalculations she will make in her life.

They grow closer--a lot closer than she'd ever thought they would--and she finds that it's perfect, and she realizes it's possible she might be in love with him. She has a child--not one, but two, and quite suddenly they're a regular little family. He still sees the Master from time to time, but then--she still sees her old friend from the Academy whenever she needs a distraction, something that doesn't mean as much.

She knows they are good together. They are _right_. Not only do they have the chemistry, they have the romance, the equality, and the common fight against what has more and more begun to feel like oppression from the High Council. They teach their children to be good people, to think for themselves, to question, to challenge. They get high on each other, on their common principles, and the high makes them more self-confident, more vocal. Too vocal, maybe.

The trouble starts small at first and gets bigger rather quickly, but they're proud, and they're in this together--at least at first. When the bullying and the subliminal threats turn into actual harassment and not-so-subliminal fines and court sentences, however, things change. She doesn't want to admit it at first, but she can feel him slipping away. He's with the Master more often now, and every time he comes back to her, he seems a little less determined, a little more frightened.

She asks him about it, tries to get him to talk to her like he used to, but he won't.

Except for one time, very near the end, after he'd been away for longer than he'd ever been before, and she'd been torn between fury and a deep worry that she'd lost him.

"I'm just not sure this is right," he tells her. "I know the High Council is wrong, but maybe we're wrong, too. Maybe we will only make things worse. I don't know if we're going about this the right way. I don't know if I want to have a part in putting people in charge who shouldn't be."

In retrospect, she thinks, she should have realized at that point that it was all about the Master, but she doesn't. She doesn't want to admit she never meant as much to him.

He leaves not long after that. He goes quietly, unceremoniously, and she's not sure, but maybe she hates him even more for his discretion. She has a short, angry fling with the Master--the one responsible, the one who started it all--but that stops very quickly when she realizes how much she really never knew about him--about the real fight they were fighting. She hates that she's the naive one--she's not usually.

Eventually, she leaves as well and takes her children with her.

She leads a reasonably fulfilled life after that. Her children grow up soon enough, and she finds she has time to focus on things that have nothing to do with family or revolution. She travels the colonies. She teaches and reforms. She brings the message she still believes in with both her hearts to everyone who will listen. She has affairs as well as relationships, and she even falls in love again.

He left her, but, she realizes, she's stronger for it. Perhaps she can forgive him--and if not forgive him, then at least she can forget him.

She doesn't meet him again, though--not until the day Gallifrey burns. But by then it is too late for forgiving or forgetting. She will die in the fire, like everyone else.


End file.
